Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)-Cas systems have emerged as a powerful tool for genome manipulation. Class 2 type II CRISPR/CAS9 is so far the most studied system and has been implemented in many biological systems such as mammalian cells, plants, fungi and bacteria. Fungi are important causes of human diseases worldwide. Genetic manipulation of pathogenic fungi is critical to develop new therapeutic approaches and novel antifungals. We will review here the progress done with CRISPR/CAS9 systems in human pathogenic fungi, with emphasis in Candida albicans and the main modifications that have improved their usefulness in biological research. We finally discuss possible future outcomes and applications to the developed in a near future.
Keywords: CAS9; CRISPR; Candida; double-strand break; fungal genetics; gene regulation; genome engineering; human pathogenic fungi; off-target events; sgRNA.